Working with Jesus

Matthew 25:31-46

Two weeks ago you may remember that I talked about visiting an orphanage on the top floor of a hospital in Meknes. This is a very nice facility but it was very difficult to see so many children who are unable to receive the personal attention they need.

In particular I talked about one room where the children with physical handicaps are kept. On the cover of the bulletin that week I put a picture of a young man with cerebral palsy. There were children in the orphanage like this young man on the bulletin cover who have good minds but are imprisoned in a body that will not function properly.

I asked the question, in what way is the birth of Jesus good news of great joy, as the angels proclaimed when Jesus was born, to those who suffer physical handicaps?

That sermon focused on our longing for a world that is better than this one. I pointed out that the fact that we long for a better world is an indication that such a world exists. God has put in our hearts a longing for his kingdom. We are offended when we see injustice because in our hearts we know justice should prevail. We are hurt when we are not loved because we know that love is supposed to be our experience. We are disturbed by physical and mental handicaps because we know that is not how we will be in heaven.

Those who realize the kingdom of God awaits and who long for the peace, justice and love that comes with his kingdom are blessed. So I ended the sermon by saying:

Blessed are those with cerebral palsy because they will be liberated.

And blessed are you when you long for the soon return of Jesus because the kingdom of God will be yours.

Then last week I talked about how we wait for Jesus to return. This week I want to talk about how we work with Jesus while we wait for his return.

On the bulletin cover you will notice the same young man with cerebral palsy from two weeks ago, but now the picture has been expanded to show who the young man is smiling at. This woman, on her knees before this young man, is working with Jesus. The young man with cerebral palsy is smiling at Jesus.

The angels announced the birth of Jesus by saying (Luke 2:10)

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

The good news that is of great joy to all the people is that Jesus brought with him the Kingdom of God to which we will be brought when we die our physical death. A better world, a perfect world awaits us.

The good news that is of great joy is also that while we live here on planet earth, we can experience in some measure the Kingdom of God. Until the end, there will continue to be suffering in this world but Jesus is at work redeeming our suffering as the Kingdom of God expands into our world.

Jesus brought with him the Kingdom of God and when Jesus walked the paths of Palestine, he gave sight to blind beggars. He raised from the dead the only son of a widow. He healed the skin disease of lepers who were ostracized from their communities and allowed them to enter back into society. He healed the woman whose bleeding kept her ritually unclean and separated her from her family and the community.

All these people experienced on earth what each of us will experience when we die our physical death and come into the Kingdom of God. We were created in the image of God and when we come into his kingdom, we will be healed and restored to be as we were meant to be.

Wherever Jesus walked he brought hope to those who suffered.

But then he died and was raised to new life and ascended. His brief time on earth was finished. Those who met Jesus in Palestine were the fortunate few who were able to hear him teach, who were able to be healed from their diseases, who were able to be delivered from demons. What a fortunate generation!

But the good news that is of great joy did not end with Jesus. Before he ascended he told his followers: (John 14:12-14)

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

After Luke wrote his gospel, he continued with a history of the early church in a document that we call Acts. Whose acts does Luke refer to in this book he wrote? These are not the acts of the followers of Jesus, these are the continuing acts of Jesus. It was Peter and John who declared to the man born lame, sitting by the gate called Beautiful, that he could stand up and walk but it was in the name of Jesus that he was healed. The ministry of Jesus did not end in the Gospels but continued in the book of Acts and has continued throughout church history up to the present day.

After he ascended, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to indwell us and empower us to do the work he had been doing. So we are now the hands of Jesus that reach out and touch those who are unloved and unaccepted by society. We are the feet that bring food to the hungry. We are the voice of Jesus that proclaims that the Kingdom of God has come.

Jesus asks us to continue to do his work and he promises to work through us. When we care for the people Jesus cares about, we are Jesus to them. But at the same time, when we care for someone, we are caring for Jesus.

In the parable Jesus told about the judgement of the sheep and the goats, he said that whenever we feed someone who is hungry, give someone a drink when they are thirsty, invite someone in who is a stranger, give clothes to someone who does not have clothes, or visit someone who is sick or in prison, we do it to Jesus.

Jesus said,

I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

You may remember the Tolstoy story about the shoemaker who after reading his Bible received a message in a dream that Jesus would visit him the next day. All that next day he looked eagerly out at the street from his basement window. He saw an old man shoveling snow and invited him in to have a cup of hot tea. He saw a poor woman and her young child and invited them in from the cold to have a meal and gave her a warm coat. He saw an old apple woman holding a struggling boy who was trying to steal an apple from her and managed to help her be merciful and the boy to help her carry her apples. That evening he was discouraged because Jesus had not appeared and he wondered what happened. How had he missed seeing Jesus that day? And then he heard the voice that had spoken to him the night before.

“Martin—ah, Martin! Did you not recognize me?”

And then the old man who had been shoveling appeared before his eyes and the poor woman and her child and the apple woman and the boy. Each of them spoke:

It is I

Avdeich’s soul rejoiced: he crossed himself, put on his eyeglasses, and began to read the Gospel where it happened to open. On the upper part of the page he read:

“For I was hungry, and you gave me food: I was thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in.”

And on the lower part of the page he read this:

“Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Matthew 25).

And Avdeich understood that his dream did not deceive him; that the Saviour really called upon him that day, and that he really received Him.

This is a wonderful story and I know that many of us, just like Avdeich the shoemaker, care for people in need every day.

I mentioned last week that my sister works as a physical therapist with severely handicapped people and some not so severely handicapped. In our congregation there are also those who work as therapists with handicapped people. There are some who work to bring wheelchairs and other equipment to help those in need. There are those who work in children’s homes with abandoned children. There are those who work to find employment for women who are driven to prostitution because they see no alternative. There are those helping sub-Saharan migrants who are here in Morocco illegally and caught up in thievery, drug trafficking and prostitution.

But the problem is that no matter how much we care, there are more needs than we are able to meet. The needs of the world are overwhelming.

There is a French film that was very popular in France, Amelie. It is a quirky film but very interesting. At one point Amelie, played by Audrey Tautou, is looking out over Marseilles and she counts the number of people experiencing great pleasure in that moment of time.

When I saw this, I thought about what it would be like to look out over even a small part of a city and to be intimately knowledgeable about the pain and suffering being experienced.

When we read the newspaper or watch the news on TV we hear about a family killed when a jet crashed into their house or about the people killed in Mumbai when terrorists set out to destroy as many people as they could or about a child killed when the car slipped out of gear and rolled back in the driveway.

We read this or hear about it and say, “Isn’t that terrible,” and then go on with our day. If we do talk about the tragedy, it is more of an intellectual discussion about what to do with terrorism or should the pilot of the plane have ejected from his aircraft as soon as he did.

But when the news comes closer to us it is less academic and more real. A couple years ago there was a bomb in a market area in Egypt and a young American, who earlier that year had worked here in Morocco, was killed. We talked more about this because we knew the person who was killed.

If the tragedy happens to someone in our church, it is even more real and the pain is greater. We grieve with the person who has lost someone they loved.

But the pain for the person who has lost their spouse or child is even greater.

The closer and more intimate the relationship, the greater the pain when evil or suffering takes place.

When it is your son or daughter, the suffering can shake your emotional and spiritual life to the core.

A man in Takkadoum is facing the prospect of losing his leg. His flesh is dying and the doctor has said he will have to amputate his leg. With no leg, he will no longer be able to work and bring home the little money his family has. He reacts with anger and drinks and then beats his wife and children in his drunken anger.

Jesus is intimate with this family and grieving with them: the father who fears and beats, the wife and children who suffer his abuse.

If I were able to look out over even a part of Rabat and have an intimate relationship with all the suffering that is taking place: abuse of women and children, rape and incest, depression, fear, illness and accidents, the powerful abusing and taking advantage of the less powerful, all the terrible things that take place in every city of the world. If I were able to be intimate with all that suffering it would crush me. Maybe I would have a nervous breakdown. But in some way the massive weight of all that evil and suffering would overpower and destroy me.

And yet Jesus asks us to care for the poor and needy. How can we do that without being crushed by the intensity of the needs?

Maybe we can be superficial in what we do. We can give some food but not get involved with the people we feed, but is that the way Jesus cared for people? Jesus met people and got down to the core of who they were. He did not simply treat the superficial needs of people. He told the rich young ruler to go sell all he had, give it to the poor and then come follow him. Jesus knew this righteous man was holding on too tightly to his wealth and dealt with him at this deep level of his need. Jesus was not content to simply exchange a cup of water with the woman at the well but got down to the depth of the needs in her life and offered her water that would satisfy her deepest thirst.

After church we pass through the gates and there are two women who beg each week. Some of us give them some coins but is that really the care they need?

There was an article in the Magharebia, an English online news source for Morocco, that talked about a study done on begging in Morocco. 62.4% of the 196,000 beggars in Morocco are professional beggars with bank accounts and real estate holdings.

The two women who beg in front of the church are professional beggars. I would love to pay a private detective (if they have those here in Morocco) and have the women followed to see how they really live. I know that one has a spot in Agdal where she begs during the week. My guess is that one of the women, who over the nine years has always been nursing a baby, rents the baby for her begging to help her earn more money. I know this is a standard practice for those who beg.

Giving to these women does not really help them. If Jesus met them, he would ignore their plea for money and deal with the much deeper needs in their lives.

But it is easier to drop a few coins in their hands than to take the time and energy to discover what is their real need.

How can we care for people without being crushed by their needs?

Not all of us are called to work with handicapped people. Not all of us are called to feed the poor or visit the sick in hospitals or prisoners in prison.

But all of us are called to take on the heart of Jesus for the world. Regardless of what it is we do, work in an office, study at school, or pastor a church, we are to make decisions that reflect the heart of Jesus for the world. Regardless of where we work, we are to care deeply about the things that are on the heart of Jesus.

How can we take on Jesus’s heart for the world, without becoming overwhelmed?

In 1989, Henri Nouwen gave three lectures on Christian leadership in the twenty-first century and put them into a short book titled, In the Name of Jesus.

This is one of the books that has affected me deeply, although when I reread the book this week, I realized there is much about Christian leadership that I have yet to deal with. It is a short book but very powerful.

The lectures were based on the accounts in Scripture of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness and the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to Peter when he asked him, “Do you love me?” and then told him, “Feed my sheep.”

An important lesson I took from the book is that Jesus does not call us to be spectacular but to take on his heart for the world. The temptation is to turn stones into bread and jump off the tower of the temple without being hurt.

When someone suffers from an illness or disease, our temptation is to be spectacular, to lay on hands and pray for healing and see them be healed. We want to walk into a room of people with physical handicaps and touch them and see them healed, see their broken bodies be made whole. We want to make a dramatic impact on our world.

We want to pray that someone will receive their long-awaited ID card from the government and that day have the card given. We want to pray for money for a building for the church and that day receive a message with a pledge that all the money needed will be provided. We want to pray for a villa at a good price and that day find the perfect place, available at a good rate.

We seek the spectacular but Jesus calls us to take on his heart for the world. “Do you love me?” “Feed my sheep.”

We look at the dramatic and spectacular miracles of Jesus but we forget that when Jesus healed, often the account tells us it began with the heart of Jesus.

Matthew 9:36

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Matthew 14:14

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Matthew 15:32

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”

Matthew 20:34

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Mark 1:41

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” ⁴² Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Dramatic miracles may follow the heart of Jesus but the spectacular, if it is from God, begins with the heart of God. Our focus needs to be on taking on the heart of Jesus for the world and then if spectacular miracles follow, so be it but what matters is that we have Jesus’ heart.

Having the heart of Jesus for the world is not insignificant. God is intimate with all the suffering and evil in every corner of the world. There is no one in any part of the world who suffers and Jesus is not present with them. How does it not overcome him?

If you add up all the suffering of the world, from all of time, this is an enormous weight. Why does it not crush God?

The love of God is far more powerful than all the suffering and evil in the world. The love of God absorbed and overcame the enormous pain and suffering and alienation of Jesus on the cross and God is able to soak up all the evil and suffering we in the world experience with his love and redeem it.

Those who take on the heart of Jesus for the world and care for the poor, the needy, the oppressed but do not have a love relationship with Jesus inevitably develop a hardened heart. On our own, our heart will break unless we shut it to the pain of the world and so the natural way to do this is to harden our heart.

There are some who work in social services who become angry and bitter at the injustice of the world. They continue to care for the poor and needy but they harden their heart against the world. Their care of those who suffer is affected and they are unable to come to the suffering with an open and vulnerable heart that suffers with their clients. They are professionals who do a job, can talk for hours about the injustice of the world’s system, but have difficulty weeping with the ones who suffer.

There are some who develop a cynicism in order to protect themselves from being repeatedly hurt. The world is a mess and people always lie to get what they want so these people do not trust anyone. They put emotional distance between those who suffer and themselves. They do their job and then go home and live their own life.

There are those who become indifferent. The problems of the poor and needy don’t go away so why bother to care about them?

Anger, cynicism and indifference are all ways to harden our hearts against the suffering of the world so we are protected from its pain. But when we protect our hearts, the pain of those who suffer is not alleviated.

What made Jesus so wonderful was that his heart was extended to those who came to him with their needs. He fed and healed with an open and vulnerable heart that was extended to those who came to him. The healing people experienced was more than receiving food or being healed of a disease or infirmity, the deeper healing was in being loved by the heart of Jesus.

When we walked through the orphanage in Meknes, the man who led us was a picture of Jesus as he walked among the children, smiling at them, putting his hand on them, praying for them. He has an NGO that works with this facility as well as others in Meknes and I so admired him for his ability to not be overcome by the sadness of what we saw.

People like this man in Meknes, my sister and many of you inspire me. I admire your ability to care about people without being overwhelmed.

The birth of Jesus is good news of great joy to all the people. Jesus brings people into his kingdom and allows them to work with him to (Luke 4:18)

to preach good news to the poor.

to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

And so my prayer is that you will grown in your understanding of how much you are loved by God. I pray that your love for Jesus will grow in response to being so wonderfully loved.

Then you will be able to be Jesus to people you meet. Then you will be able to care for people with an open and vulnerable heart that is more powerful than the suffering you will encounter.

Then you will be able to care for people as you would for Jesus.

***************************************************

Isaiah 30:18

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;

he rises to show you compassion.

For the Lord is a God of justice.

Blessed are all who wait for him!